Field notes on search, AI, and growth.
Long form thinking from our founder and team. New writing on SEO, AI search, content strategy, digital measurement, and the work we do for brands across Indonesia and the region.
Multi-Location Local SEO for Indonesian Brands
Google ranks local results on three broad inputs: proximity, relevance, and prominence. Proximity is the distance between the searcher and the business. Relevance is how well your profile and your pages match the intent behind the query. Prominence is how well known and trusted the location is, signalled by reviews, links, citations, and real-world recognition.
When Ranking #1 Stops Being Enough in the Age of AI Search
A leading prenatal nutrition brand was pulling close to 48 million search impressions a month and still watching its traffic slip. Here is what its data taught us about doing SEO in the age of AI Overviews, and what it means for your strategy in 2026.
Google I/O 2026: The 90-Day Playbook for the New AI Search Era
The brands that publish original, structured, machine-actionable content and treat each major AI engine as its own optimization problem will own the next 12 months. The brands that depend on summarizable middle-funnel content and treat Google's guide as the universal map will quietly disappear from the new front door.
Microsoft AI Search Guide That Google Couldn't Write
Microsoft published the AI search guide nine days before Google, and the SEO industry only paid attention to Google's. One is a marketing document. The other is a technical paper from the company that powers ChatGPT. Here is why that matters.
Topical Authority vs Keyword Targeting: When Each Wins
Topical authority and keyword targeting are not philosophies. They are tactics, each suited to a specific stage of a site's lifecycle and a specific kind of search query. Choosing between them by ideology, instead of by context, is one of the most common ways content programs stall.
Screaming Frog Finally Speaks Claude
Screaming Frog rolled out SEO Spider version 24.0, and buried under the usual quality of life updates is the feature most of the SEO community has been quietly waiting for. A native Model Context Protocol (MCP) server.
Google's New AI Optimization Guide Tells You How Google Works. It Does Not Tell You About AI Search.
Google's AI Optimization Guide is being read as the playbook for the entire AI search landscape. It is not. Here is what the data actually says, and why SEOs who follow Google's word as gospel keep losing visibility on the engines that matter.
AEO, GEO, and the Real B2B Value in AI Search
The digital marketing industry has a habit of minting new acronyms faster than most founders can evaluate them. AI-powered search, Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO), Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO): each promises to reshape how B2B companies compete for visibility.
How Crawl Budget Actually Works on Large Sites
Google defines crawl budget as the set of URLs that Googlebot can and wants to crawl on your site. Two forces decide that set: crawl capacity limit and crawl demand.
Internal Linking Patterns That Compound Authority
Internal linking is one of the highest leverage SEO investments available because it costs almost nothing and compounds every time you publish. The teams that win in organic search are not the ones producing the most content; they are the ones routing the authority their content already earned to the URLs that actually pay for the work.
A founder's playbook for vetting Indonesian B2B SEO agencies
This playbook gives you a repeatable framework for evaluating agencies. By the end, you will know which questions separate strategic partners from order-takers, how to structure engagements around commercial outcomes, and where to focus your due diligence.
Measuring SEO Influence in the Age of AI Search
AI-driven search breaks the classic “rank → click → convert” funnel. Your content can shape decisions inside AI overviews long before a user ever visits your site. This article shows how to add an influence layer to SEO reporting by tracking high-quality clicks, brand lift, and AI-attributed leads so you can finally connect AI search visibility to real business outcomes.
How We Unlocked Organic Growth for a Beloved Indonesian Attraction
We helped a leading Indonesian family attraction turn offline magic into online momentum. In six months, technical fixes, story-led content, and unified landing pages lifted clicks 86% and impressions 62%—with higher CTR and better average position. Here’s the narrative of what changed and why it worked.
The Definitive Guide to Hotel Local SEO
Local SEO is a strategic necessity, not just a tactical option, for hotels to succeed in today's digital landscape by driving direct bookings and establishing digital authority. Unlike general SEO, local SEO is specifically designed to optimize a hotel's presence for location-based search results like Google Maps and the Google Local Pack, which are essential for attracting high-intent travelers actively searching for accommodations in a specific area.
Turning SEO Goals Into Real Business Growth
SEO can fill many roles in a marketing mix. The same channel can raise brand visibility, nurture engagement, and drive revenue. That versatility is both a gift and a risk. A gift because the channel can flex with company needs. A risk is that unclear goals lead teams to chase rankings that appear impressive yet add no value. The first step is deciding what the company truly needs from search right now.
SEO Campaigns: A Rhythm That Starts With People
Great SEO follows a steady rhythm. Start with deep audience insight, fix urgent problems, map competitor blind spots, then monitor rising search trends. When these four actions repeat in sequence, a site earns authority, attracts steady traffic, and builds trust that compounds over time.
From Pain to Purchase: Turning Cavity Searches into Connected Content Paths
Toothache searches trace a path from pain to purchase. This post explains how a Topic Ownership strategy guides readers step by step—offering relief, education, and gentle product prompts—while internal links and varied CTAs build trust and lift rankings.
Make AI Cite Your Brand: Moving Beyond the "Common Knowledge"
Have you ever wondered, "How can we get our brand mentioned by AI, especially by Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini?" This question becomes particularly relevant when dealing with a very common topic, such as "what is a short story."
Navigating the Competitive Travel Search Landscape: Key Takeaways from Wire 3.0 by Ascott Indonesia
Sharing the transformative insights and strategic imperatives essential for staying competitive in this dynamic landscape at Wire 3.0.
Problem-Solving in SEO
Hiring the right talent for SEO can be challenging. During interviews with SEO candidates, I often present problem-solving challenges to assess their practical skills and approach to SEO strategy.